14 Apr 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
Two journalists in Tunisia have been targets of harassment and violence this month by unknown assailants. Mouldi Zouabi, a journalist for Radio Kalima, was anonymously attacked and had his wallet and press credentials stolen from him outside of a police station in Jendouba on 1 April. Moez Jemai, an independent blogger and a correspondent for Kalima, has recently received threats on his phone at work. In January, Jemai was arbaitrarily arrested, detained for eight hours and had his equiptment confiscated by the police.
02 Feb 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized
A Tunisian appeals court on Saturday upheld a six-month prison sentence against journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, one of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s toughest critics. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the decision as part of a politically motivated effort to silence Ben Brik.
In other news, Mouldi Zouabi, a reporter with Radio Kalima, was arbitrarily arrested on 28 January 2010 and detained for more than eight hours. Zouabi believes the incident was clearly aimed to prevent him from carrying out a scheduled interview with Mohamed Bouebdelli, the recently suspended former director of the Free University of Tunis who had to catch a flight that day but also “it is a clear message addressed to me with the idea of dissuading me from continuing my work with Radio Kalima,” he said.
02 Dec 09 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, News and features
A Tunisian court has given a journalist a three-month prison sentence for broadcasting images of another person without their consent. Zouhair Makhlouf, an online journalist and member of the opposition party was arrested in the run-up to a presidential election in October. The result comes after journalist Ben Brik, a staunch critic of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s government, was handed a six-month prison term for beating up a woman on the street. His lawyers said he was the victim of a police operation to entrap him. Read more here
29 Oct 09 | Uncategorized
Four men, believed to be plain-clothed police, seized independent journalist Slim Boukdhir near his home in Tunis yesterday evening (Wednesday 28 October), beating him, stripping him of his clothes, ID, money and phones and drawing a knife while threatening to kill him “next time”.
The kidnapping and assault occurred two hours after Boukhdhir was interviewed by the BBC, where he discussed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s internationally derided election victory on Sunday and a banned book by two French journalists on Ben Ali’s wife and her rising influence in the country.
(more…)
